Rooney Mara's Unexpected Summer To-Do List

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Rooney Mara's gorgeous four-page cover spread in this weekend's T, The New York Times Style Magazine just hit the web and we can't stop gushing (as usual). The interview ends with a list of Mara's fun and varied summer to-dos including learning how to quilt, learning to speak a new language, and learning ballroom dancing. She tells reporter David Amsden, "I have hidden rhythm — like, I'm a crazy dancer when I'm alone — but I'm a little too shy to let it come out in public. But, let me tell you, it's going to come out." The conversation didn't start so candidly. Instead, she was confronted with the long list of adjectives used to describe her coded (another descriptor) behavior: "Standoffish, aloof, icy, remote, guarded," and "distant" among them.

Indeed, the article — which is accompanied by a quartet of breathtaking David Sims photos — is just as paradoxically intimate and detached as Mara's public persona. It ruminates on her distinct desire to be a clean slate, fully able to take on roles, and now, her unexpected decision to take time off from the acting game entirely. It lets us in on her own ideas of celebrity influence, but still keeps us far enough away to want more. So, what did we learn? Mara always "knew [she] didn't want to be a child actor." She wanted to go to school (where she was also often referred to as "unreadable," even "stuck up") in order to be "taken seriously." And also that she hates being asked about her "football family," because "it has no relevance to acting." As for this whole "impenetrable" act, well, looks like Mara's in on that, too: "Isn't mystique and the unknown part...what keeps you drawn to someone?" Yep, looks like it's working.

Click through to see the exclusive images before they hit stands this weekend.